Dual price selective bottled beverage vending apparatus

ABSTRACT

A dual-price, selective, vending machine, having a reciprocal captive mechanism for preventing access to articles at any of the vending stations of the machine until insertion of coins of predetermined value, is provided with additional structure for preventing vending operation at selected ones of the vending stations which carry higher priced articles until appropriate additional coinage has been deposited.

United States Patent [1 1 Buescher [54] DUAL PRICE SELECTIVE BOTTLED BEVERAGE VENDING APPARATUS [75] Inventor: Wilhelm Buescher, Gelsenkirchen,

Germany [73] Assignee: The Vendo-Company, Kansas City,

[22] Filed: Nov. 9, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 197,027

[52] U.S, Cl. ..194/10, 221/92, 221/125 [51] Int. Cl ..G07t 11/30 [58] Field of Search ..221/92, 125; 194/10 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,898,001 8/1959 Johnson .2221/125 I451 Mar. 27, 1973 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Great Britain ..221/l25 Italy ..22l/l25 Primary Examiner-Robert B. Reeves Assistant ExaminerDavid A. Scherbel AttorneySchmidt, Johnson, l-lovey & Williams [57] ABSTRACT A dual-price, selective, vending machine, having a reciprocal captive mechanism for preventing access to' articles at any of the vending stations of the machine until insertion of coins of predetermined value, is provided with additional structure for preventing vending operation at selected ones of the vending stations which carry higher priced articles until appropriate additional coinage has been deposited.

10 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures DUAL PRICE SELECTIVE BOTTLE!) BEVERAGE VENDING APPARATUS This invention relates to improvements in vending machines of the class disclosed in U. S. Pat. Nos. 2,766,906 and 2,898,001, which were granted on Oct. 16, 1956 and Aug. 4, 1959, respectively, and are owned, pursuant to assignment prior to issue, by the same party to which this invention and application are assigned.

Article vending machines of the class disclosed in the aforementioned patents permit customer selection and manual removal of an article from a number of different types of available but identically priced products, such as different flavors of bottled beverages, upon insertion of coinage equal to the single price established for all of the articles. In such single price machines, article retaining gates at each of the article vending stations'are operably coupled with a common captive link type locking mechanism, which prevents shifting of any of the retaining gates to clearing positions permitting article vending until the mechanism is released by the required coinage deposit. In such machines, after release by insertion of the proper amount of coinage, the captive mechanism conventionally will then permit shifting of any single one of the retaining gates to its article-vending position.

Such conventional machines do not provide, however, for the vending of articles at more than asingle price, which limits the types of merchandise that may be offered and is a serious disadvantage of previous machines of this class.

It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to provide, in article-vending apparatus of the class mentioned, structure for permitting dual price, selective, vending operation.

It is another important object of the invention to provide such vending apparatus, which is adapted to permit a vending operation at any of certain ones of said stations upon deposit of coinage of a'predetermined lower value or to permit a vending operation at any of the otherstations in response to deposit of coinage of a predetermined higher value, so th'atthe articles of two different prices may be conveniently vended from different stations in this class of vending machine.

It is another important object of the invention to provide vending apparatus having master locking means operable to prevent vending operation from any station in the machine until the locking-means is released, and subordinate locking meansoperable to prevent vending operation at selected ones of the stations, even after release of the master locking means, until the subordinate locking means is also released, the master and responding one of a subset of vending stations provided in the machine.

Other and more detailed objects and advantages of the present invention will be made clear or become apparent from the following detailed description of a cur rently preferred embodiment of the invention, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention with portions of the structure broken away for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, front elevational view of the uppermost portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse, cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of the lowermost portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 taken from the opposite side thereof.

Reference is first made to the disclosures of the aforesaid U. S.Pat. Nos. 2,766,906 and 2,898,001 for a general background understanding of the class of machines to which this invention pertains, as well as for additional details concerning the construction and operation of those portions of the apparatus, including the primary captive link type locking means, that have now become conventional in single price machines of this general class. It should suffice for those skilled in the art, therefore, to preface the more detailed description of the improvements contemplated by this invention with only a more generalized description of those portions of the apparatus which per se are already familiar to those skilled in the vending equipment art.

The portions of the subject vending apparatus which are also common to conventional single price vending machines of the same general class broadly include cabinet, frame and internal support structure, of which only a portion is illustrated and generally designated by the numeral 10, article retaining means in the nature of swingable gates generally designated 12, article supply ing means in the nature of inclined shelves generally generally designated 18 for operating the 'master locking means 16. The invention isconcemed with the provision, in combination with the elements 10, 12, 14,

16 and 18, of releasable'subordinate locking means generally designated 20 and secondary coinage control means generally designated 22 for controlling the subordinate locking means 20.

Structure 10includes a customer accessible panel 24 provided with a vertical column of openings26 therein, each of which is of size and configuration to permit bottles or other articles of the type to be vended to be manually withdrawn therethrough.

There is a swingable gate 12 for each of the openings I 26 respectively, each of such gates 12 including a shaft portion 28 suitably 'journaled in the structure 10. The gates- 12 are disposed behind the corresponding openings 26, and are normally locked by structure hereinafter to be described in a downwardly extending position, as illustrated in FIG. 2, to restrain a bottle or other article to be vended from being withdrawn -through the corresponding opening 26 until the gate 12 has been released for swinging movement upwardly and toward the opening 26. Each gate 12 preferably includes a roller 30' rotatably carried along the bottom thereof for low-friction engagement with the top surface of a bottle or other article to be vended through the corresponding opening 26.

There is an article supplying means 14 provided for each of the openings 26, and each means 14 includes an inclined shelf 32 for receiving and shiftably supporting a plurality of bottles of beverage of a particular brand or flavor or other products in containers that are necked and adapted to roll down the shelf 32 toward the lower end thereof. The lower end of each shelf 32 is disposed adjacent a corresponding opening 26 and is provided with astop flange 34 adapted to stop the lowermost bottle on the shelf 32 in a position immediately behind and in alignment with the corresponding opening 26. The bottles or other articles on each shelf 32 are, therefore, adapted to gravitate or otherwise be urged to move the lowermost of same into a positionat the vending station presented by the corresponding opening 26 and gate 12 from which the bottle or article may then be withdrawn during a vending operation when the corresponding gate 12 is released and as otherwise hereinafter described. It will be understood that the bottles or articles are loaded upon the shelves 32 with their necked or smaller diameter ends all oriented and facing forwardly so that the necked or smaller diameter portion of the lowermost bottle or article on each shelf will normally protrude beneath the roller 30 of the corresponding gate 12 and toward the 7 corresponding opening 26 so that such necked or smaller diameter portion may be conveniently grasped by a customer for manual withdrawal during a vending operation. It should also be noted that means, such as disclosed in the aforesaid patents, will be conventionally provided for each shelf 32 and operably coupled with the corresponding gate 12 for deterring gravitation of the next lower bottle on a shelf into the vending station position behind the opening 26, after removal of a lowermost bottle from such vending station, until the gate 12 for such shelf 32 has been restored to its locked position; since such bottle advancement control means per se constitutes no direct part of the presentinvention, however, and for the sake of clarity of illustration of the primary structure involved in the invention, such bottle advancement control means has not been shown in the drawing and need not here be described for those skilled in the vending machine art.

There is a rotatable spreader or dog 36 for each of the retaining gates 12 respectively and suitably secured to the shaft portions 28 of the gates 12 for rotation therewith. The master locking means 16 includes a plurality of generally l-l-shaped captive links 38 supported in stacked relationship within a vertical channel 40 forming part of the internal support structure with one link 38 being disposed between each adjacent pair of spreaders 36, a lowermost or master link 42 below the lowermost spreader 36, a laterally reciprocal bolt 44, a trigger latch 46, a spring 48 for urging the master link 42 upwardly into engagement with the bottom of the lowermost link 38, and a so-called common bar 50 disposed behind the links 38 within the channel 40.

The coin controlled means for the master locking means-l6 includes a solenoid 52 mounted on the internal support structure 10 to one side of the bolt 44 having an armature 54 operably coupled with the bolt 44 by means of a crank 56 pivoted on the support structure 10 as at 58 and provided with a stud 60 that is engageable with a shoulder 62 on the bolt 44. The bolt 44 is mounted for lateral reciprocation by means of pins 64 extending through a horizontal slot 66 therein and is normally biased toward the left in FIG. 1 by a spring 68. When the bolt 44 is in its leftmost position, as illustrated in FIG. 1, it interengages a strike assembly mounted on the master link 42 and partially shown at 70 to lock and restrain the master link 42 against downward movement until the bolt 44 has been unlocked by reciprocation to the right in FIG. 1. With the bolt 44 and master link 42 thus locked, none of the spreaders 36, and therefore none of the gates 12, may be rotated because of the stacked, interengaging relationship of the adjacent ends of non-compressible links 42 and as, together with the fact that each link as and 42 includes an upper end surface 72 that is engaged by the adjacent end of a corresponding spreader 36 to block the latter against rotation as long as the links 38 and 42 are held in their normal locked positions as illustrated in FIG. 1. Thus, in the standby condition of the apparatus, although the necked portion of the lowermost bottle or article on each shelf 32 protrudes from beneath the corresponding gate 12 and may be grasped by a customer,such bottle or article may not be removed from the corresponding opening 26 until its associated gate 12 has been freed for forwardly swinging movement to clear the larger diameter rear portions of the bottle or article by unlocking of the master locking means 16 to permit rotation of the corresponding spreader36.

As those familiar with this general class of machine will be aware, the coinage controlled solenoid 52 is suitably coupled by conventional circuitry with the coin receiving and crediting portion of the vending machine in such manner that the solenoid 52 will be energized each time a customer deposits coinage of a predetermined value, for example a dime, which in conventional single price machines corresponds to the predetermined vending price of the type of bottle products or articles to be offered and vended from each of the shelves 32. When the solenoid S2 is actuated, the crank 58 is swung to reciprocate stud 60 to the right in FIG. 1, thereby also reciprocating bolt 44 to the right against the bias of spring 68, to clear the bolt 44 from the strike assembly and thereby permit downward movement of the master link 42 against the bias of spring 48. A tab 74 on trigger latch 46 engages a shoulder 76 on the bolt 44 to hold the latter in its reciprocated or unlocked position until a portion of the lower edge 78 of the master link 42 (which is broken away for clarity of illustration in FIG. 1) is moved by downward reciprocation of the latter into engagement with another tab 80 on the trigger 46 for swinging the tab 74 of the trigger 46 downwardly away from shoulder 76 to permit the bolt 44 to return to its leftmost locking position under the influence of spring 68, it being noted that the stud 60 will return to its standby position illustrated in FIG. 1 after deenergization of the solenoid 52.

With the master link 42 unlocked and freed for downward movement against the bias of spring 48, in a conventional single price machine and except for the subordinate locking means 20 hereinafter to be described, a bottle or article may be manually withdrawn by a customer from the vending station associated with any single one of the openings 26. As such a bottle is being manually withdrawn by the customer through an opening 26, the roller 30 of the corresponding gate 12 will ride up from the necked portion over the larger diameter rear portion of the bottle and such gate 12 will be swung forwardly and upwardly about the axis of its shaft portion 28. Such swinging movement of the gate 12 concurrently rotates the corresponding spreader 36 in a counterclockwise direction as shown in FIG. 1, and the engagement of the left end of such spreader 36 with the edge 72 of the underlying link 38 will force that link 38 and any underlying links 38 and the master link 42 downwardly for release of the trigger 46 and bolt 44 as hereinbefore described.

It may be noted that such spreader 36 and the appropriate links 38 and 42 will be held in their shifted positions as long as the corresponding gate 12 is swung forwardly during the entire process of manual withdrawal of a bottle or article being vended.

Those familiar with this general class of machine will also understand that simultaneous withdrawal of more than a single bottle from a plurality of openings 26 is precluded by the noncompressibility of the links 38, their interengaging relationship, and the fact that the rightmost end and the lower of a pair of spreaders 36 attempting to rotate simultaneously will engage a lower edge 86 of the link 38 'thereabove to maintain the height of that and all of the other links 38 thereabove in such position that the engagement of the leftmost end of any overlying spreader 36 with the corresponding upper link edge 72 will prevent rotation of the upper spreader 36 sufficiently to permit vending operation from its associated gate 12. It will also be understood that the common bar 50, which is provided with a concavity 88 for receiving the left end of any spreader being rotated, functions to prevent sequential vending of more than one bottle from a single coinage deposit credit through downward reciprocation of the bar 50 by the spreader 36 first operated, which moves the concavities 88 associated with the remaining spreaders 36 out of alignment with the latter to preclude their being rotated until the first operated spreader 36 has been returned to its normal position and the bolt 44 restored to its locking condition, the details of this portion of a preferred form of master locking means 16 being more fully described in the aforesaid patents.

The structure thus far described is, as noted, now essentially conventional in widely commercialized machines in this general class adapted for the selective vending of a plurality of types of articles all at a single predetermined price, for example cents. The present invention, which now will be described, is concerned with providing additional structure and c0mbin-'- ing the same with the previously described conventional structure in manner that will permit articles of a second price, for example cents, to be vended from the vending stations associated with a selected one or more of the openings 26 and the corresponding shelves 32. One of the virtues of the present invention is the simplicity of the additional structure provided and its adaptability to be easily added to and combined with the existing structure of conventional machines without substantial modification of the latter.

The releasable subordinate locking means contemplated by the invention includes an elongated shiftable element 100 supported for swinging movement about a vertical axis by pivot pins 102 and 104 respectively journaled in brackets 106 and 108 forming a part of the internal support structure 10. Spring means 110 biases the element 100 in a clockwise direction as shown in FIG. 3 or in a direction of swinging movement to urge the rightmost edge of element 100 away from the links 38 as shown in FIG. 1. It should be noted, however, that means hereinafter to be described are provided for overriding the bias of spring under standby conditions, so that the normal or locked position of the element 100 and the hereinafter identified structure carried thereby is with the element fully swung into the counterclockwise rotated position shown in solid lines in FIG. 3 or with the rightmost edge of the element 100 swung rearwardly toward the links 38 as shown in FIG. 1. An operating lever arm 112 is secured to the element 100 and extends leftwardly from the top portion of the latter as shown in FIG. 1.

The element 100 is provided with a cutaway notch 114 adjacent the level of each of the spreaders 36 and with a pair of preferably threaded holes 116 adjacent to each notch 114. One or more locking members generally designated 118, each having an elongated base portion 120 and a rearwardly turned tab portion 122, are adapted to be selectively mounted on the element 100 adjacent any one or more of the spreaders 36 by means of screws 123 passing through the base portion 120 and into the corresponding holes 116. As best shown in FIG. 3, considered in conjunction with FIG. 1, the tab portion 122 of any locking member 118 thus installed on the element 100 extends rearwardly through the corresponding notch 114 of the element 100 and into a position overlying the rightmost end of the corresponding spreader 36 when the element 100 is in its normal, unactuated position. The tab 122 of each such member 118 is thus disposed to be engaged by the rightmost end of a corresponding spreader 36, to block the latter against the rotation thereof required for a vending operation, as long as the element 100 remains in its normal actuated position.

The secondary coinage control means 22 includes a solenoid 124 suitably electrically coupled for energization thereof only in response to deposit of coinage in the machine establishing a credit 'equal to a second and higher price than the amount of credit required for actuation of the solenoid 52 of the primary control means 18 associated with the master locking means 10, the nature of the coinage equipment employable in the machine and its manner of coupling with thesolenoid 124 to actuate the latter being so familiar to those skilled in the vending art as to require no further elaboration here. The solenois 124 is provided with a reciprocable armature 126 having an actuating extension 128 thereon, the outer end of extension 128 being disposed to engage the backside of the operating arm 112 on the element 100..

A spring 130, having a greater effective force than the spring 110, is connected between the internal support structure 10 and the armature 126 to normally draw the latter forwardly and presentthe end of extension 128 strongly against the rear of operating arm 112 to maintain the element 100 in its normal locked position with the tabs 122 of the locking members 118 disposed in blocking relationship to the corresponding spreaders 118, the force of spring 130 thus overriding the counterforce of spring 110 as long as the solenoid 124 remains unactuated.

It will be noted in FIG. 1 that no locking member 118 has been installed on the element 100 adjacent certain spreaders and notches, as indicated in FIG. 1 in connection with the spreader 36a and the notch 114a;

Thus the gate 12 associated with such spreader 36a may be operated to vend an article from the corresponding opening 26 at the lower of the two predetermined prices at which articles are to be dispensed from the machine, as soon as the primary coin control means 18 has been activated to unlock the master locking means 16. The secondary locking means 20 and its coinage control means 22- has no effect upon the above-described operation of the apparatus during vending of an article from a vending station'for which no locking member 118 is installed on the element 100.

With respect to those vending stations for which a locking member 118 is installed on the member 100 in normal blocking relationship to the corresponding spreader 36, however, actuation of the control solenoid 124 responsive to the deposit of additional coinage for establishing credit at the higher of the two predetermined prices is necessary to permit vending of one of the higher priced articles even after the primary or master locking means 16 has been unlocked. Presuming, therefore, that the master locking means 16 has been unlocked responsive to the deposit of coinage at least equal to the lower predetermined price, as is necessary and will inevitably occur upon deposit of coinage equal to the higher price, once credit equal to the higher price has been established the solenoid 124 will be energized and the armature 128 thereof drawn to the right in FIG. 2 and to the rear in FIG. 1, thereby withdrawing the pressure of the end of extension 128 against the rear side of the operating arm 112 of element 100. With the force of spring 130 and extension 128 thus removed from the operatingarm 112 by the actuation of solenoid 124, the spring 110 will then act to swing the element 100 to its counterclockwise unlocked position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 3, which moves the tab 122 of the locking members 118 forwardly and outrof the path of the spreaders '36 with which they are associated. Any of the spreaders 36 associated with the vending stations for the higher priced articles are then free to rotate so as to permit forward swinging of the gate 12 associated therewith for removal of the lowermost one of the articles on any shelf 32 supplied with the higher priced articles. It will be understood that the master locking means 16 still functions in the manner hereinbefore described to prevent the vending of more than one article upon a single coinage deposit, whether simultaneously or sequentially.

The secondary locking means 20 thus cooperates with and is subordinate to the master locking means 16,

but effectively permits articles of either of two predetermined prices to be vended from the machine,

and further from any one or more of the vending stations thereof which may be selected for convenience or merchandising reasons.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, a number of minor modifications could be made from the exact details of construction of the preferred embodi ment described to illustrate the principles of the invention without departing from the spirit or gist of the invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that the invention should be deemed limited only by the fair scope of the claims which follow.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In vending apparatus;

means presenting a set of stations from which articles are to be vended; 1 means for supplying articles to be vended to each of said stations;

article-retaining means for each of said stations and each shiftable between a position for blocking the vending of an article from the corresponding station and a position for permitting vending of an article therefrom;

releasable, master locking means common to and operatively coupled with each of said retaining means for normally locking all of said retaining means in their article-blocking positions, said master locking means being operable when released to unlock any of said retaining means; and

releasable, subordinate locking means common to and operatively coupled with only those of said retaining means associated with a subset of said stations for normally preventing shifting of any of the retaining means associated with said subset of stations to its article vending position even when said master locking means is released, said subordinate locking means being operable when released to permit shifting of any of said lastmen-,'

tioned retaining means associated with said subset of stations to its article vending position when said i master locking means is also released,

whereby articles are vendable from any of said subset of stations only upon release of both said master and subordinate locking means and are vendable from any of the remaining stations of said set thereof upon release of said master locking means only.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein is provided first control means adapted to respond to the deposit of coinage of predetermined value and operatively coupled with said master locking means for releasing the latter; and second control means adapted to respond to the deposit of coinage of additional value and operatively coupled with said subordinate locking means for releasing the latter.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein is provided a shiftable spreader for each retaining means respectively and operably coupled with the latter; and said master locking means includes a plurality of shiftable, interengageable, captive links disposed adjacent said spreaders and engageable with the latter to prevent shifting of more than one spreader and its associated retaining means at a time, and a shiftable bolt adjacent an endmost of said links and operably coupled with said first control means, said bolt being shiftable by said first control means from a standby position preventing shifting of any of said links to a shifted position releasing any one of said spreaders for shifting movement.

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said subordinate locking means includes a shiftable element, and a plurality of locking members secured to the element, each of said locking members being disposed adjacent a corresponding one of those spreaders associated with said subset of stations, said element being shiftable between a locking position disposing each of said locking members in blocking relationship to a corresponding spreader to prevent shifting of the latter and a releasing position clearing said locking members from said spreaders to permit shifting of the latter.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said locking members are selectively securable to the element at locations adjacent any of said spreaders to thereby selectively define said subset of stations from any of said stations.

6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein is provided biasing means operatively engaging said shiftable element for urging the latter to its locking position.

7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein said second control means is operable when actuated to relieve the force of said biasing means exerted upon said shiftable element; and wherein is provided second biasing means operatively engaging said shiftable element for urging the latter to said releasing position upon actuation of said second control means, the first-mentioned biasing means exerting greater force on said shiftable element in opposition to the urgings of said second biasing means to hold said shiftable element in said locking position until actuation of said second control means.

8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said locking members are spaced from and located in noninterfering relationship with said captive links to permit independent shifting movement of said locking members and said captive links.

9. Apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein said captive links are disposed in vertical, stacked relationship; and wherein said shiftable element is an elongated, vertical bar laterally spaced from said vertical stack of captive links, said locking members being disposed to extend generally laterally from said bar toward said corresponding spreader.

10. Apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein said captive links are disposed for vertical shifting movement and wherein said vertical bar is disposed for lateral, swinging movement about a vertical axis between said locking and releasing positions thereof. 

1. In vending apparatus; means presenting a set of stations from which articles are to be vended; means for supplying articles to be vended to each of said stations; article-retaining means for each of said stations and each shiftable between a position for blocking the vending of an article from the corresponding station and a position for permitting vending of an article therefrom; releasable, master locking means common to and operatively coupled with each of said retaining means for normally locking all of said retaining means in their article-blocking positions, said master locking means being operable when released to unlock any of said retaining means; and releasable, subordinate locking means common to and operatively coupled with only those of said retaining means associated with a subset of said stations for normally preventing shifting of any of the retaining means associated with said subset of stations to its article vending position even when said master locking means is released, said subordinate locking means being operable when released to permit shifting of any of said lastmentioned retaining means associated with said subset of stations to its article vending position when said master locking means is also released, whereby articles are vendable from any of said subset of stations only upon release of both said master and subordinate locking means and are vendable from any of the remaining stations of said set thereof upon release of said master locking means only.
 2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein is provided first control means adapted to respond to the deposit of coinage of predetermined value and operatively coupled with said master locking means for releasing the latter; and second control means adapted to respond to the deposit of coinage of additional value and operatively coupled with said subordinate locking means for releasing the latter.
 3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein is provided a shiftable spreader for each retaining means respectively and operably coupled with the latter; and said master locking means includes a plurality of shiftable, interengageable, captive links disposed adjacent said spreaders and engageable with the latter to prevent shifting of more than one spreader and its associated retaining means at a time, and a shiftable bolt adjacent an endmost of said links and operably coupled with said first control means, said bolt being shiftable by said first control means from a standby position preventing shifting of any of said links to a shifted position releasing any one of said spreaders for shifting movement.
 4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said subordinate locking means includes a shiftable element, and a plurality of locking members secured to the element, each of said locking members being disposed adjacent a corresponding one of those spreaders associated with said subset of stations, said element being shiftable between a locking position disposIng each of said locking members in blocking relationship to a corresponding spreader to prevent shifting of the latter and a releasing position clearing said locking members from said spreaders to permit shifting of the latter.
 5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said locking members are selectively securable to the element at locations adjacent any of said spreaders to thereby selectively define said subset of stations from any of said stations.
 6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein is provided biasing means operatively engaging said shiftable element for urging the latter to its locking position.
 7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 6, wherein said second control means is operable when actuated to relieve the force of said biasing means exerted upon said shiftable element; and wherein is provided second biasing means operatively engaging said shiftable element for urging the latter to said releasing position upon actuation of said second control means, the first-mentioned biasing means exerting greater force on said shiftable element in opposition to the urgings of said second biasing means to hold said shiftable element in said locking position until actuation of said second control means.
 8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said locking members are spaced from and located in noninterfering relationship with said captive links to permit independent shifting movement of said locking members and said captive links.
 9. Apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein said captive links are disposed in vertical, stacked relationship; and wherein said shiftable element is an elongated, vertical bar laterally spaced from said vertical stack of captive links, said locking members being disposed to extend generally laterally from said bar toward said corresponding spreader.
 10. Apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein said captive links are disposed for vertical shifting movement and wherein said vertical bar is disposed for lateral, swinging movement about a vertical axis between said locking and releasing positions thereof. 